Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2024-49

Recent NJIT Provisional Patent Applications (Filed) 

Patent Application Title:   Virtual Reality Headset System

Inventor(s):    Wang, Guiling / Dash, Ankan

Patent Application Status:  Filed Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date: 11/27/2024

Application Filing No.:  63/725,718

Technology Licensing Status: Available

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Startup Certification Training Course

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

This two-hour, self-paced course will help startups identify and protect their IP. The flexible online format is convenient for entrepreneurs and small business owners on the go.

The course includes videos organized around:

• IP 
• Trademarks
• Patents
• Cybersecurity for small businesses
• How to avoid suspicious funding

Upon completion, you'll receive your certificate and all resources provided throughout the training. Visit our Startup resources page to take the next step for your business with IP tools, funding sources, and more. The USPTO created this course to help startups identify and protect their intellectual property. The course is meant to provide general information and is not intended to provide legal advice to any individual or entity. If you have legal questions, please consider consulting with legal counsel.

Questions? Email the Innovation Outreach Division (IOD) at InnovationOutreach@uspto.gov for more information on the course.

NSF: Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR); Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT); Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR); Emerging Mathematics in Biology (eMB)

NIH: New Approaches for Measuring Brain Changes Across Longer Timespans (R21); NLM Research Grants in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (R01); Cellular and Molecular Biology of Complex Brain Disorders (R21); Catalyze: Product Definition for Small Molecules, Biologics and Combination Products - Target Identification and Validation, and Preliminary Product/Lead Series Identification (R61/R33); Advancing Research Careers (ARC) Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award to Promote Broad Participation (F99/K00); NIDCR Small Grant Program for New Investigators (R03); NCMRR Early Career Research Award (R03)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Joint Airborne Mission Survivability IPT

National Endowment of Humanities: Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities; Fellowships

‘Team Human’ vs. AI: MIT expert issues warning on artificial general intelligence risks:  Artificial intelligence could cure diseases, prevent accidents and transform industries — but at what cost? As tech giants race to create AI that rivals or eclipses human intelligence, one expert warns this path could leave humanity behind. Speaking on Nov. 12 at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, MIT professor and Future of Life Institute President Max Tegmark presented a stark choice: Use AI responsibly to solve real-world problems, or risk creating a technology we can’t control. The future of humanity, Tegmark suggested, may hinge on this decision. “I am an optimist, and I'm going to argue that we can create an amazingly inspiring future with tool AI as long as we don't build AGI, which is unnecessary, undesirable and preventable,” he said. Tegmark, named among TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2023, described tool AI as a powerful technology for tackling specific problems like curing diseases, improving safety and addressing climate change, and even helping with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. By contrast, AGI — smarter-than-human AI — could become uncontrollable, self-replicating and evolve into a "digital species" that displaces humanity. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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DOD reveals first draft of $15B artificial intelligence contract: The Defense Department has given industry a first glimpse at how it plans to compete a potential $15 billion program whose mission is in the name -- Advancing Artificial Intelligence Multiple Award Contract. A draft solicitation released Wednesday outlines what DOD is looking for in this contract that supports Advana, a multi-domain analytics and AI platform run by the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. Advana is in the midst of an overhaul, which DOD is undertaking to ensure the platform can further scale out across the department. In June, our Defense One colleagues reported that CDAO is looking at data mesh principles as a way to simplify the authorization of what resides in Advana and make information sharing easier. The platform’s original intent was to help the Pentagon’s comptroller work with financial, program management and logistics data for approximately 100,000 users. Booz Allen Hamilton is the incumbent for Advana under a potential three-year, $3.2 billion task order awarded in 2021. DOD has obligated approximately 28% of the ceiling to-date against the order that expires on Aug. 15, according to GovTribe data. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Lawmakers propose electronic tracking system for federal grant applications:  A trio of House Republicans proposed legislation this week that would create a new electronic tracking system — and look into leveraging artificial intelligence capabilities — to review federal grant applications for identical or fraudulent submissions. The bill — the Decreasing Overlapping Grants Efficiently, or DOGE, Act — is a nod to President-elect Donald Trump’s announced commission for reducing federal waste, known as the Department of Government Efficiency. The measure’s main focus is to limit grant awards to recipients who have already received a grant from another agency for similar or identical purposes, or who have submitted a fraudulent application. Within one year of the bill’s enactment, the Office of Management and Budget would have to establish a tracking and deconfliction system for federal grant applications that can be accessed by the heads of executive agencies or inspectors general before any grants are awarded.

The legislation would also require OMB — in consultation with the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology — to submit a report to relevant congressional committees “on the feasibility of leveraging artificial intelligence to rapidly identify” similar or identical grant applications.